Chapter 5

The television interviews went fine, in fact, they were great. Taylor loved interviews. They gave the boys a chance to open up and be themselves. He liked to pretend that the cameras weren't there and that he was talking directly to the fans. It made him feel like he was giving something back in exchange for all the fans had done for them.

Mr. Hodges had dropped the Hanson brothers back at their hotel with instructions for the boys to enjoy the rest of the day. They had wasted no time retrieving the map and setting out to find the last two landmarks. Back at Hyde Park, the brothers claimed a bench and studied the cryptic markings on the map. After ten minutes of heavy discussion, they boys had narrowed one of the landmarks down to three possibilities. One of them seemed unlikely, because of its distance from the park - all of the other landmarks had been within walking distance of the park - so they chose one of the remaining two at random and set out.

Thirty minutes later, they had discovered nothing and were ready to give up and move on.

"What if we missed it?" Taylor worried.

Isaac shook his head. "I don't think so. This can't be the right landmark." He sounded so sure of himself that the other two boys looked at him expectantly. "Think about it," he explained. "When we were ready to give up before, the girl showed up and helped us. If this were the right place, she wouldn't let us give up."

"Makes sense to me," Zac agreed. "So let's check out the other place."

They arrived at the second choice on their list, an old apothecary stop, and began their search along the back of the building. By now they knew what to look for. All of the other jewelry pouches had been found behind boards or bricks on the landmarks themselves. Less than ten minutes later, Taylor gave a cry of triumph and held the pouch up for his brothers to see.

"All right!" Zac shouted. "Are we getting good or what?!"

"Let's see," Isaac said.

Taylor opened the pouch and poured the contents into his hand while his brothers crowded close to see the treasure. Several small stones of varying size and color sparkled in the bright sunlight.

"Holy cow!" Taylor exclaimed with a whistle. "They sure look real to me."

"That's because they are real, kid."

All three of the brothers spun toward the strange voice...and froze. Less than six feet away stood a tall man, not more than a few years older than Isaac, but twice as big. The man's size seemed insignificant considering the fact he held a gun pointed at the boys. Behind him stood another, slightly older man. He had no gun, but for some reason, the boys didn't think that mattered much.

"I'll take that, kid," the man with the gun said calmly. He reached out his hand, waiting.

Taylor swallowed nervously, not able to pull his eyes from the gun.

"NOW!" the man shouted.

Taylor jumped, and the stones fell to the ground, scattering on the hard packed dirt.

"Hey, be careful with those things!" the unarmed man yelled. He hurried forward and began gathering the loose stones. When he finished, he stood and snatched the velvet pouch from Taylor's hand, dropping the stones inside and tying the top tightly.

"Now," the man with the gun said, "Let's clear the air around here. How exactly did you boys know where to find this?"

Isaac spoke, his voice betrayed none of his nervousness. "We were just messing around back here and found that by accident."

"Don't give me that crap," the man with the gun said. "We've been watching you kids long enough to know what's going on. You knew exactly what you were doing back here. Now, what I want to know is, how did you find out about it?" He raised the gun a little higher as he spoke.

Isaac hesitated only a second. "We have a map."

The man raised his eyebrows, surprised at the answer. "Let me see."

The oldest brother pulled the map from his back pocket and handed it to the man. The man unfolded it and studied it. "This looks like a first grader drew it," he sneered. "There's no way to follow these crazy markings." He glanced back up at Isaac. "Where did you get it?"

It was Taylor who answered. "A girl gave it to me, yesterday morning, at the hotel."

Gun Man's face went pale. "A girl? What did she look like?"

"My age, or maybe a year or two older," Taylor replied. "She was kind of tall and had short, dark hair."

The two men exchanged nervous looks. The unarmed man shook his head. "It can't be her," he protested to his companion.

"No! No, it's not her. Just someone that looks like her," Gun Man said nervously. He took a deep breath, visibly calming himself. "Where is the rest of the stuff?"

Isaac considered denying they had the jewelry, but decided it wouldn't be smart. "It's in our hotel room."

"Nice try," Gun Man said. "But we already searched your rooms."

"Well, you didn't search very well," Zac sneered. "Or maybe we're just too smart for you."

Taylor glanced nervously at his younger brother. Was the kid crazy? Didn't he realize that was a real gun pointed at them?

"Okay, genius," Gun Man said, "then where are they?"

"Let us go, and we'll bring them to you," Isaac answered.

Both men laughed. "You really do think we're stupid, don't you?" Gun Man chuckled. "It don't work that way. Tell you what..." He gestured with his gun at Zac. "We'll keep this one as insurance." His companion took Zac's arm and pulled him to him.

Gun Man continued, "We'll take real good care of the smart mouth here, while you two run us a few errands. You can start by finding the last one on this map. I assume you have the ones that are checked off?" He waited until they nodded before handing the map back to Isaac and continuing. "Find it, then get the other pieces and meet us back at Hyde Park, the same bench you were at this morning. You have three hours. Oh, and forget any ideas you might have about calling the police. I wouldn't want the little one here to have to pay for your mistakes."

"No way, man," Isaac protested. "We're not going off and leaving Zac with you clowns."

"You don't have a choice," Gun Man spit out. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm holding all the cards here. Now get your butts in gear. Your time is running out."

Isaac glanced at Zac, who was calmly watching the whole thing. There was no trace of fear in the boy's face. "It's all right, Ike. These guys are too stupid to be dangerous. Do what you have to."

With one last look over his shoulder, Isaac and Taylor turned and ran around the building.

Zac watched them go, then turned to the man still holding him. "Can we get something to eat while we wait? I'm starved!"

* * * * *

Ben paced the small room almost frantically. As he approached the wall each time, he turned and looked at the kid sitting on the bed, munching happily at the large pile of snacks beside him. How could the kid - what was his name? Zac? -- eat at a time like this? Even Ben was nervous and he hadn't had a gun shoved in his face just an hour ago.

Ben turned and paced back down the length of the room. How had things gotten so out of hand? It was suppose to be a simple robbery. Just break in, take a few things, and get out. Everything had been planned for months. There was no way for anything to go wrong. And it hadn't...at least, not with the robbery itself. Everything was fine until Nicole had stuck her snotty little nose it where it didn't belong. Ben suppressed a shiver as he thought of his step-sister. The other kid, the middle one, had described Nicole to a T. But that was impossible. The thought more than scared Ben, it terrified him.

"Can I get another soda?" Zac asked, drawing Ben from his thoughts.

"You've already had two," Ben said, halting his pacing to glare at the boy. The kid wasn't intimidated, Ben had to hand him that. What did it take to rattle this kid?

"Well, I'm still thirsty," Zac complained. "Maybe there's something about being kidnapped that dries out the throat or something."

"You have a smart mouth, you know that?" Ben shot back.

Zac grinned cheekily. "Of course, I know it. It's my best feature. Now, can I have another soda?"

Ben sighed in exasperation. "You'll have to wait until my friend gets back." He resumed his pacing. He wished Neil would hurry up. Neil had the gun. What was Ben supposed to do if the kid decided to make trouble? Scare him with a bag of chips?

"And just when will Hercules be returning?"

"I don't know," Ben snapped. "Why don't you wait and see? And I wouldn't call him that to his face. He has a short temper."

"Well, you won't tell me your names. What am I supposed to call you? Hey You 1 and Hey You 2? Besides, he's built like Hercules."

Ben almost smiled at the comparison. Neil would probably be flattered by the nickname. He prided himself on his physique. But it irritated Ben, who couldn't build up muscle no matter how much he worked out.

"I guess that makes you Xena," the kid said, laughing.

Ben spun around, fixing the kid with his most threatening glare. It was a wasted effort. The boy just laughed harder and went back to eating.

"I'm beginning to think we might have to pay someone to take you back," Ben commented, trying to irritate the boy.

"Ransom of Red Chief, by O. Henry," Zac exclaimed. "I've read that. Cool story!"

Ben had no idea what the kid was talking about. He didn't read any more than he had to. He felt his face redden and he threw himself into his pacing, praying that Neil would return soon.

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